System and method for making patient records follow a physician

ABSTRACT

A computer-based system for providing physicians automatic, secure access to patient records at the time a patient visits and consults a physician. The system can include one or more computing devices configured to process and display data. The system can also include one or more emitting devices carried by physicians for identifying each particular physician and one or more scanning devices configured to detect and communicatively link to the one or more emitting devices based on the proximity of the physician to an examination room. Additionally, the system can include a manager module communicatively linked to the one or more scanning devices and configured to manage the signal data from the one or more scanning devices. Furthermore, the system can also include one or more servers communicatively linked with the one or more computing devices, one or more scanning devices, and manager module, the one or more servers configured to authenticate and register a particular patient upon a visit to a hospital or office, synchronize the particular physician identifier, patient identifier, personal wellness electronic record (PWER), and examination room identifier based upon physician&#39;s proximity to an examination room, initiate a physician-patient session at the at least one computing device at the examination room, transfer the PWER to the at least one computing device at the examination room, and automatically terminate the physician-patient session and receive the PWER based upon the physician leaving the proximity of the examination room.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/057,104, which was filed May 29, 2008, and which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to the fields of data retrieval, processing, and display, and more particularly, to computer-based systems and methods for providing automatic, secure access to patient records.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Today, a significant challenge physicians have to deal with is having to rely on patient records, that are largely in paper form, when consulting with patients. Often times, such patient records can be incomplete, tough to analyze in an efficient manner, and burdensome. Even if patient records are stored in electronic form, it still remains a challenge to provide immediate, automatic, and secure access to a particular patient's record, especially at the time the patient is visiting the physician. The inability to provide such access to patient records has led to problems and inefficiencies such as delayed patient consultations, delayed treatments, increased costs, and unnecessary expenditures in labor. By relying on the current methods for accessing records, physicians face a greater probability of receiving inaccurate and incomplete records. This, in turn, ultimately leads to a greater probability of making inaccurate medical diagnoses. These inefficiencies are further amplified as a physician consults with more and more patients.

As a result, there is a need for more effective and efficient means providing physicians with direct, automatic, and secure access to patient records. Furthermore, there is a need for effective and efficient systems and methods to enable automatic, secure access to patient records, especially when a patient visits a particular physician.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for providing automatic, secure access to patient records, particularly when a physician enters an examination room to treat and/or consult a patient.

One embodiment of the invention is a computer-based system for providing physicians with automatic, secure access to patient records at the time a patient visits and consults a physician. The system can include one or more computing devices configured to process and display data. The system can also include one or more emitting devices carried by physicians for identifying each particular physician and one or more scanning devices configured to detect and communicatively link to the one or more emitting devices based on the proximity of the physician to an examination room. Additionally, the system can include a manager module communicatively linked to the one or more scanning devices and configured to manage the signal data from the one or more scanning devices. Furthermore, the system can also include one or more servers communicatively linked with the one or more computing devices, one or more scanning devices, and the manager module. The one or more servers can be configured to authenticate and register a particular patient upon a visit to a hospital or office, synchronize the particular physician identifier, patient identifier, personal wellness electronic record (PWER), and examination room identifier based upon the physician's proximity to an examination room, initiate a physician-patient session at the one or more computing devices at the examination room, transfer the PWER to the one or more computing devices at the examination room, and automatically terminate the physician-patient session and receive the PWER based upon the physician leaving the proximity of the examination room.

Another embodiment of the invention is a computer-based method for providing physicians automatic, secure access to patient records at the time a patient visits and consults the physician. The method can include authenticating and registering a particular patient upon a visit to a hospital or office. The method can also include synchronizing a particular physician identifier, patient identifier, personal wellness electronic record (PWER), and examination room identifier based upon physician's proximity to an examination room. Additionally, the method can further include initiating a physician-patient session at a computer system at the examination room and transferring the PWER from one or more servers to the computer system at the examination room. Moreover, the method can also include automatically terminating the physician-patient session and transferring the PWER to the one or more servers based upon the physician leaving the proximity of the examination room.

Yet another embodiment of the invention is a computer-readable medium which contains computer-readable code that when loaded on a computer causes the computer to authenticate and register a particular patient upon a visit to a hospital or office, to synchronize a particular physician, patient, personal wellness electronic record (PWER), and examination room based upon physician's proximity to the examination room, to initiate a physician-patient session at a computer system at the examination room, to transfer the PWER from one or more servers to the computer system at the examination room; and to automatically terminate the physician-patient session and transfer the PWER to the one ore more servers based upon the physician leaving the proximity of the examination room.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

There are shown in the drawings, embodiments which are presently preferred. It is expressly noted, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system for providing physicians automatic, secure access to patient records at the time a patient visits and consults a physician, according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of steps in a method for providing physicians automatic, secure access to patient records at the time a patient visits and consults the physician, according to another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring initially to FIG. 1, a system 100 for providing physicians automatic, secure access to patient records at the time a patient visits and consults a physician, according to one embodiment of the invention, is schematically illustrated. The system includes one or more computing devices 102 configured to process and display data 102. For example, the computing devices 102 can be desktop computers, laptops, personal digital assistants, or other similar computing devices. The system 100 further includes one or more emitting devices 104 carried by the physicians for identifying each particular physician. Additionally, the system 100 includes one or more scanning devices 106 configured to detect and communicatively link to the one or more emitting devices 104 based on the proximity of the physician to an examination room.

The system 100 can also include a manager module 108 that is communicatively linked to the one or more scanning devices 106 and configured to manage the signal data coming from the one or more scanning devices 106. Furthermore, the system 100 can include one or more servers 110 communicatively linked with the one or more computing devices 102, one or more scanning devices 106, and manager module 108. Alternatively, the manager module 108 can be implemented in hardwired, dedicated circuitry for performing the operative functions described herein. In another embodiment, the manager module 108 can be implemented in computer-readable code configured to execute on a particular computing machine. In yet another embodiment, however, the manager module 108 can be implemented in a combination of hardwired circuitry and computer-readable code.

Operatively, when a physician enters a patient examination room, the one or more emitting devices 104 carried by the physician send a physician identifier to the one or more scanning devices 106. The one or more scanning devices 106 relay the physician identifier and examination room identifier to the manager module 108 and the manager module 108 transfers the signal to the one or more servers 110 for processing. The one or more servers 110 are configured to authenticate and register a particular patient upon a visit to a hospital or office, which results in the creation of a patient identifier, synchronize the particular physician identifier, patient identifier, personal wellness electronic record (PWER), and examination room identifier based upon physician's proximity to an examination room, initiate a physician-patient session at the one or more computing devices 102 at the examination room, transfer the PWER to the one or more computing devices 102 at the examination room, and automatically terminate the physician-patient session and receive the PWER based upon the physician leaving the proximity of the examination room. Even though one computing device 102, one emitting device 104, one scanning device 106, and one server 110 are shown, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill that a greater number of computing devices, emitting devices, scanning devices, and servers can be utilized in the system 100.

According to a particular embodiment, the one or more computing devices 102 can be configured to electronically update the PWER during or after the examination. The one or more emitting devices 104 can be, for example, radio frequency identification chips, cards, or other emitting devices carried by the physician. The scanning devices 106 of the system 100 can be radio frequency identification readers that are utilized to detect the one or more emitting devices 104, for example. In another embodiment, the manager module 108 can be configured to alert the one or more servers 110 of the presence of the physician in the examination room.

In yet another embodiment, the one or more servers 110 can be configured to preload the PWER into an electronic data buffer for transmission. For example, when a patient visits a particular physician, the patient is registered and authenticated by the system 100. The system 100 creates a patient identifier and the PWER for that patient can then be preloaded in the system 100 to enable fast and efficient access to the records. Additionally, the one or more servers 110 can be configured to provide at least one of a privacy restriction and a security restriction for the accessing of the PWER. For example, based on the particular patient and/or policies pertaining to the patient, the one or more servers 110 can ensure the right level of access and security measures for a particular PWER. According to still another embodiment, the one or more servers 110 can be configured to reinitiate a physician-patient session when the physician enters another examination room or re-enters the original examination room.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a flowchart is provided that illustrates certain method aspects of the invention. The flowchart depicts steps of a method 200 for providing physicians with automatic, secure access to patient records at the time a patient visits and consults the physician. The method 200 illustratively includes, after the start step 202, authenticating and registering a particular patient upon a visit to a hospital or office at step 204. The method 200 also includes synchronizing a particular physician identifier, patient identifier, personal wellness electronic record (PWER), and examination room identifier based upon physician's proximity to an examination room at step 206. Additionally, the method 200 includes at step 208 initiating a physician-patient session at a computer system at the examination room. The method 200 also includes transferring the PWER from one or more servers to the computer system at the examination room at step 210. The method 200 further includes at step 212 automatically terminating the physician-patient session and transferring the PWER to the one or more servers based upon the physician leaving the proximity of the examination room. The method 200 illustratively concludes at step 214.

The method 200 can also include preloading the PWER into an electronic data buffer for transmission. For example, when a patient visits a hospital or office, the PWER for the patient can be preloaded into a computer system. This will enable prompt display when the physician comes to treat and/or consult the patient.

According to another embodiment, the method 200 can further include, at the synchronizing step 206, using a scanning device, for detecting an emitting device carried by the physician. The emitting device can contain identification information for a particular physician. In one embodiment, the scanning device can be a radio frequency identification reader that detects a radio frequency identification chip, card, or other emitting device carried by the physician. Moreover, the synchronizing step 206 also can include communicating with a manager module, where the manager module alerts the one or more servers of the presence of the physician in the examination room.

According to yet another embodiment, the method 200 can include providing at least one of a privacy restriction and a security restriction for the accessing of the PWER. The method 200 can also include electronically updating the PWER during or after an examination. In another embodiment, the method 200 can further include reinitiating a physician-patient session when the physician enters another examination room or re-enters the original examination room.

The invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any type of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suitable. A typical combination of hardware and software can be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein.

The invention, as already mentioned, can be embedded in a computer program product, such as magnetic tape, an optically readable disk, or other computer-readable medium for storing electronic data. The computer program product can comprise computer-readable code, (defining a computer program) which when loaded in a computer or computer system causes the computer or computer system to carry out the different methods described herein. Computer program in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form.

The preceding description of preferred embodiments of the invention have been presented for the purposes of illustration. The description provided is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed or described. Modifications and variations will be readily apparent from the preceding description. As a result, it is intended that the scope of the invention not be limited by the detailed description provided herein. 

We claim:
 1. A computer-based method for providing secure access to electronic patient records, the method comprising: associating a patient identifier with an examination room identifier that is associated with a predefined area including a computing device therein; preloading a personal wellness electronic record (PWER) associated with the patient identifier in an electronic buffer of a server for transmission from the electronic buffer to the computing device in the predefined area, the preloading in the electronic buffer enabling fast and efficient access to the PWER and prompt display of the PWER at the computing device; providing, via the server, at least one restriction for accessing the PWER; tracking a location of an emitting device carried by a physician, the emitting device including a physician identifier associated with the physician; detecting that the emitting device has entered the predefined area associated with the examination room identifier; in response to the detecting that the emitting device has entered the predefined area: automatically synchronizing the physician identifier, the patient identifier, the PWER, and the examination room identifier, the synchronizing including determining whether the physician identifier satisfies the at least one restriction for accessing the PWER; automatically transferring the PWER from the electronic buffer of the server to the computing device in the predefined area; initiating an application at the computing device in the predefined area for accessing the PWER transferred from the electronic buffer of the server; and automatically updating the PWER during an examination period in response to updates to the PWER being received from the physician carrying the emitting device; detecting that the emitting device has left the predefined area associated with the examination room identifier; and in response to the detecting that the emitting device has left the predefined area: automatically terminating the initiated application at the computing device in the predefined area; and transferring the updated PWER from the computing device in the predefined area to the server.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking the location of the emitting device comprises detecting a location of the emitting device using at least one scanning device.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one scanning device is a radio frequency identification reader and the emitting device is a radio frequency identification tag.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one restriction comprises at least one of a privacy restriction and a security restriction.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically updating the PWER occurs after the terminating of the initiated application.
 6. A computer-based system for providing secure access to electronic patient records, the system comprising: a computing device associated with a predefined area, the predefined area being associated with an examination room identifier; a server communicatively linked with the computing device associated with the predefined area, the server including one or more processors and a memory, the memory storing machine readable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to: associate a patient identifier with the examination room identifier; preload a personal wellness electronic record (PWER) associated with the patient identifier in an electronic data buffer of the server for transmission from the electronic buffer to the computing device in the predefined area, the preloading in the electronic buffer enabling fast and efficient access to the PWER and prompt display of the PWER at the computing device, the server providing at least one restriction for accessing the PWER; track a location of an emitting device carried by a physician, the emitting device including a physician identifier associated with the physician; detect that the emitting device has entered the predefined area associated with the examination room identifier; in response to the detection of the emitting device entering the predefined area: automatically synchronize the physician identifier, the patient identifier, the PWER, and the examination room identifier, the synchronizing including determining whether the physician identifier satisfies the at least one restriction for accessing the PWER; automatically transfer the PWER from the electronic data buffer of the server to the computing device associated with the predefined area; initiate an application at the computing device associated with the predefined area for accessing the PWER transferred from the electronic data buffer of the server; and automatically update the PWER during an examination period in response to updates to the PWER being received from the physician carrying the emitting device; detect that the emitting device has left the predefined area associated with the examination room identifier; and in response to the detecting that the emitting device has left the predefined area: automatically terminate the initiated application at the computing device associated with the predefined area; and transfer the updated PWER from the computing device associated with the predefined area to the server.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the automatically updating of the PWER occurs after the terminating of the initiated application.
 8. The system of claim 6, further comprising at least one scanning device comprising a radio frequency identification reader configured to detect the emitting device.
 9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a manager module coupling the at least one scanning device to the one or more processors.
 10. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one restriction comprises at least one of a privacy restriction and a security restriction.
 11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-readable instructions, which, when loaded in and executed by one or more processors of a server, cause the server to: associate a patient identifier with an examination room identifier that is associated with a predefined area including a computing device therein; preload a personal wellness electronic record (PWER) associated with the patient identifier in an electronic buffer of the server for transmission from the electronic buffer to computing device in the predefined area, the preloading in the electronic buffer enabling fast and efficient access to the PWER and prompt display of the PWER at the computing device; provide at least one restriction for accessing the PWER; track a location of an emitting device carried by a physician, the emitting device including a physician identifier associated with the physician; detect that the emitting device has entered the predefined area associated with the examination room identifier; in response to the detection of the emitting device entering the predefined area: automatically synchronize the physician identifier, the patient identifier, the PWER, and the examination room identifier, the synchronizing including determining whether the physician identifier satisfies the at least one restriction for accessing the PWER; automatically transfer the PWER from the electronic buffer of the server to the computing device associated with the predefined area; initiate an application at the computing device in the predefined area for accessing the PWER transferred from the electronic buffer of the server; automatically update the PWER during an examination period in response to updates to the PWER being received from the physician carrying the emitting device; detect that the emitting device has left the predefined area associated with the examination room identifier; and in response to the detecting that the emitting device has left the predefined area: automatically terminate the initiated application at the computing device in the predefined area; and transfer the updated PWER from the computing device in the predefined area to the server.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the at least one restriction comprises at least one of a privacy restriction and a security restriction.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the updating of the PWER occurs after the terminating of the initiated application.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the server includes one or more processors and a memory storing machine readable instructions. 